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Hello Pink, Yes, I was right....we were very similar in the early years. I had to be the cook for the family of 6 from the age of 10. Mom wasn't very domestic as she wanted a career, plus we needed the money. We all had choirs to do. The woods was our playground too. We had to make our own swings. My older brother and I built treehouses. I am a very good cook, and considered a chef in most cases. Over the years,I have done alot of rebuilding, or flips as it is called today. I've done alot of housepainting....inside and out too. I am very good at trim work. But I've had many different jobs from secretary to a professor at a State Teachers College, to QualityAssurance in IBM. I am very artistic and extremely perfect in matching color. I studiedto work for an artist who did Museum Restoration......oh how I loved that job. In the 60's, I owned and operated an Antiques Shop. I enjoyed that too. All this from a poorchildhood. I surely didn't know it at the time either. My Prom dress....I wanted bluelace, but there are no orders when the dress is loaned. I was lucky enough to have thatfriend with alot of "taste"....lol. I was lucky to have a pair of white spike heels. I was inthat transition just before the hippies. I always dressed for the jobs. At home, I dressto be comfortable.....usually T-shirts and jeans and flip-flops. I do feel my age, but many people think I am 10 to 15 years younger than I am. When I visited a friend inArkansas last year, I was checking out a Senior place (55 and older). The managerdidn't think I was old enough to be there.....thought she was going to have an attackwhile reading my ID.....LOL. :-)))) . Wish I FELT as good as I look to some people...LOL.Sounds like you had a wonderful life.....and I guess I did to for the most part. Actually,I was graduated, and at 18, a friend (24), of my brother wanted to marry me, but was chased off by Dad, as I was considered a minor. It broke my heart. I finally eloped at21 with someone else, and it was a huge mistake....he was terribly mean to me. That lasted a year. Went on to marry another, and that was a divorce in 1986. Will I marryagain ?.....you might say, I'm "taking my time"....lol. Take care....C U later, hugs Janine.

Janine, I grew up poor in California, only we didn't know we were poor. It was an old mining town, turned logging town and all our fathers worked in the woods. So everyone in my class at school were in the same boat. We lived hearty and well all summer while the money was flowing, but lived on credit in the winter. I'm 60, but feel old, (not physically) as I raised my five brothers and sisters, as mom was a waitress, helping make those ends meet. I was nine the first time I started watching the younger kids. My best memories are playing in the woods around our house. We had tree forts and lots of small streams and ponds to play in. My grandparents were Irish and grandmothers was a school teacher and I learned from her, and I learned the Queen's English and still use it. I married at 17, while I was a hippy and I still dress like one. I'm a Capricorn, so our signs are very compatible. I married my childhood sweetheart and he is a Virgo. Your strapless gown sounds devine. My favourite was baby blue lace, strapless with a little lace short sleeved jacket (I never took it off). I loved spiked heels and pointed shoes - I actually cried when I went shopping in the mid 60's and all they had were square toes and chunky heels for sale. I was devastated. I love to can all our home grown vegetables and fruits, sew, paint and collect old things.And I love wax paper, too!Hugs, Pink.

Hi Pink....I was right....our lives were very parallel. We did everything you said. This is so amazing, but where are you from ? I thought you were in the USA,but now not sure....is it Canada, or out in the mid West ? Most of my early lifewas in New York State, and a short while in New Jersey. After a divorce, I moved to Florida in the mid 80's. The heat is so extreme for me, so I am looking into South Carolina on the Coast. I will be 70 this year, so I want to make the move while I am still up to it. That's my Virgo back ground, alwaysthinking ahead..... :-)))) . Anyway, thinking about the Proms.....I borroweda white gown from a friend of my mother's. It was gorgeous to me, was strapless, had many scalloped tiers to it......all edged in sparkles. I was happy just for the use of the gown. I live in an area where it is against the law toburn in your own yard.....it's understandable, living so close to others. Plusit's a fire hazzard. But, I still reuse the margarine tubs. I remember the waxed paper wrapping for the sandwiches in brown bags. I still use waxed paper when I am doing a sloppy job on the counter....with chicken and other meats, or peeling potatoes. When the job is done. I can wrap up the wax paper with the throw aways, and place in the kitchen trash. The same thing can be donewhen working on a craft project.....'specially with children.....that can be wrapped together and the sloppy stuff thrown away in one move. I love itwhen "old is new again".... :-)))) .....I still remember receiving the glass mild bottles with the bulb at the top. The cream rose to this area (not homoginized),and from there we could use a tiny ladle for taking some of the cream forwhipping. We made our own skim or 2% milk and didn't even know it....LOL.I love the memories, and I know you do too. Thanks for this time, as I knowyou are very busy.....I do enjoy our little talks.....Hugs Pink, Janine.

Janine, I've been trying to get my husband to make me a burn barrel. I remember taking trash up the back yard for burning, at least once a week, all year long. I remember when every kitchen had a wonderful array of plastic tubs that were used over and over. They once held margarine and cottage cheese, etc. No one was ashamed to have one at school with part of their lunch in one. Or a sandwich wrapped in the colourful wax paper off a loaf of bread. We used everything over and over. Or your lunch sack was what the dried beans or rice had come in. Mom would by 1, 2 or 3 pound sacks of dried goods and when it was gone we happily reused the brown bag it had been put in. The groceries were upstairs in the same store that had the hardware downstairs in the basement and most things got weighed and wrapped from dried goods to the cheeses and meats. Milk came in glass bottles that we took back to the store. We used everything over and over. AND, I still cut all the buttons off our clothes before they get discarded, AND I reuse those buttons to mend shirts, etc. All my high school formals had been worn by at least two of my older cousins before it was my turn and I thought I was beautiful in them. Never gave it a thought to sub a hand-me-down. The day a box of hand-me-downs arrived, was a day of excitement at my house. There were five of us kids and we never filled more than one small, metal can of garbage in a week. Today there are only two of us and we take a huge container of garbage to the curb each week. I know just what you meant in your note. Thanks and hugs, Janine! Pink

It's amazing how much we are alike......or at least love the same things. I believeyou once noticed that too. Yes....my Grandmothers did the same thing. Even myGreat Grandmother had the tins full of things. The prized possession for all ofus was, "the tin full of buttons". When a piece of clothing was ready to be given up,the buttons were cut off and saved to the "tin". In those years, we saved everything.We didn't have 2 tons of garbage sitting at the curb....like today :-))). Of course we could burn the paper thrash at one time. I find life so amazing !!It's nice to share the memories with you Pink......hugs, Janine.P.S......I still save the buttons..... :-)))))))))

Janine, the first tin I remember was my grandmother's. It was full of bright coloured buttons in fun shapes and designs. She helped me to pick and choose and make a bracelet on thin, corded elastic. I have a brown, autumn coloured tin full of my "quick" sewing kit. I have several in the pink/black shades I have sacked in the guest room where mos of my pinknblack collection resides. So glad you enjoyed it. I often see things from when I was young labeled "Rero" or "Vintage" and realize that makes me an "Anique"!!!!

This is so pretty. Years ago, we used to save these to reuse as sewing boxes.My Mom had one, and my sister and I each had one. Mom also had a largerbasket for sewing. But the tin was great for the fast repairs and easily trans- ported within the house or on trips. I carried on the tradition with sewing tins.I also had my large sewing basket too. The tins came in handy for storing other items too. I also love the lacy cloth this is resting on. I used to know what the lace is called. I must be getting old....the memory isn't always there.LOL.....Most importantly, thanks for sharing these wonderful pieces. I enjoythe memories....hugs, Janine.